Support through the sacred turns of life.
Moana Minton’s ministry is to nurture a wide spectrum of transformative events in peoples’ lives. She offers birth assistance and baby blessings; premarital counseling and weddings; house blessings and home organizations; vigils and memorials. She also runs the chaplaincy program at AseraCare hospice in Concord, CA. Sometimes the path to ministry is filled with twists and turns, with each change in direction offering unexpected insight. Moana took a winding route to ministry, and perhaps that explains why her outreach work is so wide-ranging.
Moana planned to be a scientist when she entered MIT, but after taking a semester off to backpack across Europe, she fell in love with art, architecture, languages, and religion. When she returned, she delved into language, literature, and writing classes, and ended up writing a book of poetry as her senior thesis. Her next step was to pursue a Master’s in Creative Writing at Boston University. There she began working in translation and looking at religious writers. She says, “I saw a lot of suffering in the world, some of it coming from poorly interpreted sacred texts. I wanted to study these texts myself and help people understand them in a way that brought good things to their lives.”
After completing her MA, Moana left the Boston area to work on an organic teaching farm in Marin, introducing city children to the cycles of life and showing them where their food comes from. “Our animals gave birth and died under our care—even becoming the food we ate. I found this cycle of love and loss to be integral to the human experience. I had been with my grandmother when she died, and saw the different ways it impacted our family. And I had listened to my mom talk about our births as children, and how those births affected our family. I wanted to help others going through these life-changing cycles.”
These thoughts and experiences led Moana to begin work as a birth doula, serving teen mothers, single moms, and couples who really needed support during their preparations for parenthood. “I saw more than 25 babies come into the world, and helped a lot of those moms, dads, and babies have a positive experience of initiation.”
During that time, Moana felt a connection between human fears of the unknown (such as transitions like birth and death) and the ability to connect with spirit and with one another. This insight ultimately led her to pursue Master of Divinity degree at the Pacific School of Religion, to learn how to minister to people in crisis. In her second year there, she began a year-long internship as a hospice chaplain at Pathways Hospice.
“After my internship, I was sure I wanted to become ordained as a chaplain, but I had never been part of any church. My advisor at PSR suggested I look into the Chaplaincy Institute as a possible route toward ordination, and I found it a great fit.”
ChI’s interfaith approach to chaplaincy was a compelling draw for Moana, as was its focus on creative approaches to ministry.
“ChI brought me past my academic training into a realm of spontaneity and into the identity of the healer. I explored many new media for spirit, such as artwork, music, and movement, and was able to incorporate those into my regular repertoire. As a woman, it also was refreshing to work in an institution that seemed modeled on the feminine approach to the world. I feel that is a much-needed awakening for many of us who have been trained in traditional settings.”
Moana completed the program at ChI while in a year-long CPE residency at John Muir Hospital in Concord. After ordination in September 2010, she started Golden Circle Ministry and has been working as the sole hospice chaplain at AseraCare, Concord.
AseraCare serves the terminally ill (currently ranging in age from 24-100) at their place of residence, which may be their home, a board and care facility, a skilled nursing facility, or an assisted living facility. Many of these patients have lost connection to any faith community or spiritual practice. Others have lost connection with family members or friends that were very important to them. Many have lost their memories or their ability to speak, eat, or move.
“At AseraCare, I offer a ministry of connection: I provide patients an opportunity to connect with their true feelings, with their loved ones, with the divine, and with me. This may come in the form of touch, conversation, singing, reading, walking, or prayer. They may need a sip of water, or pain relief, or simply a hand to hold. Each visit is a mystery. Most important, I try to offer love, curiosity, and respect for their experience.”
Moana finds hospice ministry to be both rewarding and challenging.
“I love people’s quirky personalities and the way they can surprise you at the drop of a hat. The dying often have a gift of vulnerability that they share with their caregivers, and a gift of wisdom that they share with the world."
“At the same time, working in healthcare can feel like an endless battle. There is always more suffering and fewer resources with which to meet it. And, in the end, all the people I grow to love die. It is a challenge to grieve and heal properly in this work. I depend on time alone, with my partner, and with friends and family, as well as the gifted hands and hearts of many teachers and healers to keep me resourced and supported.”
She offers these words of advice to aspiring chaplains:
“Chaplaincy is a quickly growing, and quickly changing, need in our society. As fewer and fewer people identify with faith communities, and more and more depend on social services and health care for spiritual support, we will need a more diverse array of healers available to meet those diverse needs. I recommend trusting that the gifts you bring will be the ones that are needed. You don’t need to fit into any one mold—though it is helpful to be familiar with many!”
Spoken from experience!
~ Article by Molly Miller
